Category: Recording

Using video in oral history

Case Study: Using video in oral history— learning from one woman’s experiences by Joanna Hay To video or not to video, that is the question. Oral historians continue to discuss the use of video: its benefits and its pitfalls. There are significant additional costs and technical challenges with video, and oral historians are justifiably cautious …

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Achieving Good Audio

Achieving Good Audio Recording Levels by Doug Boyd It is of paramount importance to monitor recording levels during the digital recording of an oral history interview. The dynamic range of a recorder or a microphone is the range between the highest level and the lowest level (the noise floor) of sound that can be captured. …

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The Art of Lighting for Recording Video

The Art of Lighting for Recording Video Oral History Interviews by Doug Boyd To capture professional looking video, you do not need expensive equipment. However, you do need to understand how your camera sees the scene. A digital video camera sees differently from the human eye and it needs light to process images. Professional photographers …

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Microphone Strategies for Recording Video

Microphone Strategies for Recording Video for Oral History Interviews by Doug Boyd Professional video recording technologies are becoming increasingly accessible and affordable. However, nothing will degrade the effect of professional looking video more than a video with bad sound. One of the keys to creating “professional” quality video is to also record professional quality audio. …

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Video Equipment

Video Equipment: Guide to Selecting and Use by Scott Pennington and Dean Rehberger Equipment for gathering oral history can be a large part of small budget projects, a small part of large budget projects, or anything in between. For gathering quality oral histories and narratives, however, projects need not have a Hollywood blockbuster budget. By …

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Speech in Quiet and Speech in Noise

Speech in Quiet and Speech in Noise:  Audio Exemplars and Some Recommendations for Enhancing the Quality of Oral History Recordings by Brad Rakerd Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders From an acoustical standpoint, no two oral history recordings are ever exactly alike. One reason for this is that there is wide variation in the equipment …

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Microphones and Room Effects

Microphones and Room Effects:  Audio Exemplars and Some Recommendations for Enhancing the Quality of Oral History Recordings by Brad Rakerd Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders One of the most important determiners of the success of any oral history project is the quality of the audio record that is ultimately produced. Producing a satisfying recording …

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Understanding Microphones

Understanding Microphones by Charles Hardy and Doug Boyd Choosing the appropriate microphone for your interview is just as important as choosing the right recorder.  Different microphones serve very different purposes and will yield very different results. For decades, oral historians have been recommending the use of external microphones in order to achieve high-quality results.  Even …

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Digital Audio Recording: The Basics

Digital Audio Recording: The Basics by Doug Boyd In the context of audio, “analog” refers to the method of representing a sound wave with voltage fluctuations that are analogous to the pressure fluctuations of the sound wave. Analog fluctuations are infinitely varying rather than the discrete changes at sample time associated with digital recording. Simply …

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Ask Doug: Choosing a Digital Audio Recorder

Finding the right equipment for a project can be one of the most difficult steps. Our digital expert, Doug Boyd, makes it easy by providing you with Ask Doug,  a set of questions that takes you through a series of decisions to some of the best possible choices for your particular needs. At this point, we …

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